ing grew by 16% from US$5.5 to US$6.4 trillion. In this period, traditionally imported rice for meeting food shortfalls may
the sales of food retailers increased disproportionately to the now be shifting towards increasing levels of wheat imports
sales of food processors and companies in the food input indus- (Pingali, 2004). This trend is also evident in the import of
try. The sales of top food processors and traders grew by 13%, other temperate products like vegetables, milk and dairy prod-
sales by the top 10 agricultural input countries by 8%, while the ucts and temperate fruit. Net imports of this category of prod-
sales by top food retailers grew by 40% (IFPRI, 2007). However, ucts increased by a factor of 13 over the last 40 years, rising
on a global scale the agricultural input industry is more monop- from a deficit of US$1.7 billion in 1961/1963 to US$24 bil-
olized than the food retail industry. In the agricultural input in- lion in 1997/1999 (Pingali, 2004). Between 1997/1999 and
dustry, three agro-chemical corporations control approximately 2030, the cumulative increase in imports of these products is
half the world market (UNCTAD, 2006), while the top five food expected to be 154% and 17% for vegetable oils and oilseeds,
retailers control only around 13% of the total market. while meat imports are expected to increase by 389%. The
overall result is that we are beginning to see a homogeniza-
Trade and urbanization affect consumer preferences. The rapid tion of food tastes across the globe, but with regional varia-
diversification of the urban diet cannot be met by the tradi- tions (Pingali, 2004).
tional food supply chain in the hinterland of many developing
countries. Consequently, importing food to satisfy the chang- Poor connections between urban and rural areas hinder price
ing food demand could be relatively easier and less costly than transmissions towards local markets, broadening the gap be-
acquiring the same food from domestic sources. tween urban demand and rural production in increasing de-
mand for traditional products or for product diversification.
In Asia traditional rice-eating societies are consuming increas- The lack of access to markets is most evident in Africa, although
ing quantities of wheat in the form of bread, cakes, pastry and large parts of Latin America and Asia are also experiencing long
other products (Pingali and Rosegrant, 1998). Countries that transport hours to reach markets (Figure 34). Consequently, do-
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